Best Viewed on Large Monitor

China = 透光鏡 Tòu guāng jìng (light-penetrating mirror)
Japan = 魔鏡 Makyō (magic mirror)

See Slide 11
for details

Overview: Beginner’s Guide to Magic Mirrors

On 13 July 2022, the Cincinnati Art Museum (CAM) announced
the discovery of a Buddhist-themed magic mirror in its
collection. The museum‘s curator of East Asian Art, Hou-meiSung, mentioned she is aware of only two other museums inpossession of such a rare mirror. Bronze magic mirrors (like theone at CAM ) are indeed rare, but not that rare. To date, overtwenty religious-themed magic mirrors have been identified,including four featuring a Christian motif. This guide presents
twelve of them, located at museums in Japan, the UK, and theUSA. There are two distinct types of magic mirror: one-plated
and two-plated. One-plated magic mirrors originated inancient times. Extant examples are abundant. Two-plated
magic mirrors like CAM’s are very scarce and [it seems] of
relatively recent origin. This guide presents both varieties, but
the main focus is on two-plated magic mirrors. Fellow
adventurer, Janet Leigh Foster, has studied this topic for many
years, including the unique “composite” variety (her term for
two-plated mirrors). She has identified twenty-four composite
Japanese mirrors worldwide, and is fairly certain they
originated in the Meiji period (19th century CE). She plans torelease a book sometime soon.

Dedicated to Teachers, Students, &the Japan Art History Forum (JAHF)

OPEN LINKS IN
NEW BROWSER TAB
1. on PC, hold down
control key, click link
2. on MAC, hold downcommand key, click link
3. right-click link, select“open link in new tab”

Back of one-plated
Japanese magic mirror

Copyright © Feb. 2023 by Mark Schumacher
Author: A-to-Z Photo Dictionary of Japanese Religious Statuary (online since 1995)

1

Shining Light on Bronze Magic Mirrors ・ Two Types (1) One Plate and (2) Two Plates
Unlike one-plate magic mirrors, two-plate magic
mirrors consist of two quite separate plates
attached by a common edging band. The back platewith ornamental design has no reflecting surface,
while the front plate has a hidden design behind its
reflective surface.

One Plate Magic Mirror

When light is projected at the reflective front, the pattern on mirror’s back is cast on the wall.
Specially made for
The Magic Lantern Society, England

Magic Mirrors In This Beginner’s Guide
Where・When
China 2nd~1st BCE
Japan 3rd~4th CE
Japan 18th CE
Japan 19th CE
Japan 19th CE
Japan 19th CE
Japan Edo Era
Japan Edo Era
Japan Edo Era
Japan Edo Era
Japan 19th CE
Japan 19th CE
Japan Edo Era
Japan 19th CE
Japan Edo Era
Japan Edo Era
Japan Edo Era
Japan Edo Era
Japan Modern

Type
One
One
One
One
One
One
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two

Location
Shanghai Museum
Kyoto Nat'l Museum
Tokyo Nat'l Museum
Kanazawa Univ. Museum
Stanford Univ. Museum
Silmanus Thompson 1893
Kamakura Museum
Kokugakuin Univ.
Kokugakuin Univ.
Nanzan University
British Museum
Victoria & Albert
Cincinnati Art Museum
New York Met
Seinan Gakuin Univ.
Kamakura Museum
Pastor Sugino Sakae
Sawada Miki Memorial
Yamamoto Alloy Works

Slide
7
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
15
16
17
17
18
18
20
21
22
22
23

The views expressed herein are those of the author, whotakes full responsibility for any errors and / or omissions.

VIDEO:
See thismirror inaction

Back

Front

Reflection Cast on Wall

Front

IMAGE SOURCE: Grand-Illusions.com

Two Plate Magic Mirror

When light is projected at the reflective front, a hidden religious image is cast on the wall.
Back

HiddenImage of
Deity

Front

Reflection Cast on WallThis back design is a replica of an ancient
Han-period Chinese magic mirror. See Slide 7.

IMAGE SOURCE: Yukawanet.com
Buy online here or here or here2

Introducing Magic Mirrors

Magic mirrors are an ancient art that stretches back to at least China’s Western
Han Dynasty (206 BCE ~ 9 CE). Cast on a single plate, with decorative design onback and reflective surface on front, the secrets of the art were lost around the
9th century CE (see Slide 8) but “rediscovered” in the 19th century CE by Japaneseartisans, who then cast their own magic to create a new breed of magic mirrors(i.e., two plated). The art was again lost after the widespread introduction ofEuropean-style glass mirrors to Japan in the late 19th century. Glass sounded thedeath knell for bronze mirrors in Japan and elsewhere.

Western Han
206 BCE ~ 9 CE

See Slide 7
for details

In 1974, the late Yamamoto Shinji (3rd generation Japanese metal craftsman)revived the art of magic mirrors after a Western scholar expressed interest in
their manufacture. The techniques are now maintained by 72-year-old Yamamoto
Fujio (4th generation) and his 46-year-old son Akihisa. See Slide 23.
Despite the proximity to modernity, there is much that remains unexplained.
First, it is hard to say unequivocally that both types (one-plated, two-plated) weremade in Japan prior to the 19th century (see Slide 25). In fact, it is not clear
whether ancient mirrors were made as magical mirrors -- any normal mirror canbecome a magic mirror when the reflecting surface is ground very thin. Hence,
the magic mirror phenomenon may have happened purely by chance. Second,dating these mirrors is tricky business because of impression replicas of mucholder designs. Third, the scarcity of two-plated magic mirrors suggest that suchmirrors never attained widespread use, but were instead an isolated
phenomenon limited to a handful of Japanese workshops in a handful of localities.
Fourth, we cannot rule out the possibility that many institutions and collectors
are in possession of magic mirrors without realizing it. There are hordes ofmirrors that have never been examined. Lastly, all extant two-plated magic
mirrors [known to me] feature Amida Buddha (Pure Land Buddhism) or Jesus
Christ (Christianity). Since certain Pure Land sects, along with Christianity, werebanned during the Edo era, this peculiar feature of extant magic mirrors issuitably clarified.
With the July 2022 discovery of a Buddhist-themed two-plated magic mirror in
the collection of the Cincinnati Art Museum, magic mirrors have once again
sparked the enthusiasm of world-class museums, art historians, and artisans (seediscussion on JAHF). This Beginner’s Guide sheds light on rare extant Chinese andJapanese magic mirrors in museums in China, Japan, England, and America. It is
written in the style of a museum exhibition catalog.

Back of one-plated
Chinese magic mirror

Inscription:
見日之光，天下大明Seeing the sun’s light,
the world is illuminated3Historical Background

In ancient China, bronze mirrors were considered magical, able to ward off
evil (see Slide 7 for extant example, dated to Western Han, 206 BCE ~ 9 CE).
As China’s influence expanded in Asia, this belief in the magical propertiesof mirrors was passed along to Korea and Japan. Chinese mirrors came to
Japan via China and Korea by at least the 1st century BCE. In Japan, overtime, the mirror became a symbol of royal power, along with the sword andmagatama (curved jewel) – the Three Shintō Regalia 三種の神器. In Japan,
even today, the three regalia symbolize the legitimacy and authority ofJapan’s emperor.
In Japan’s distant past, local elites treated imported Chinese bronze mirrors
as exotic luxury goods. By the late Yayoi period (200~300 CE), bronze
mirrors were esteemed as precious grave goods. Scholars think the size andnumber of mirrors amassed by a ruler symbolized his or her power. The
largest mirror ever found in Japan (46.5 cm in diameter) was excavatedfrom the tomb of King Hirabaru 平原遺跡. The tomb also holds the record
for most bronze mirrors (40) excavated from a single tomb.
After Buddhism was introduced to Japan in the mid-6th century CE, mirrors
were placed in front of Buddhist statues or buried in sutra mounds or
beneath pagodas. Tens of thousands of old one-plate bronze mirrors areextant across Asia, many found in ancient tombs in China, Korea, and Japan.

See Slide 15
for details

What percent of them might be magic? Says Uchikawa Takashi, Kokugakuin
University: “Our museum has about 1,000 mirrors. Many unexamined. Full-scale
research on magic mirrors has only just begun. It is not yet clear whether theseancient mirrors were made as magical mirrors. Nor can we deny the possibility
that the magic mirror phenomenon happened purely by chance, as any thinly
Quotepolished mirror will reflect the same unevenness as the pattern on the back.”

Two Types of Extant Magic Mirror
1. One-Plated Magic Mirror, 2nd ~1st century BCE onward
Reflects design on mirror’s back side
2. Two-Plated Magic Mirror, 19th century CE onward
Reflects “hidden” image not found on back or front
Resources

1. Mirrors and Faith - Formation and Development of Japanese Mirrors (2014, J)
2. Origin and types of bronze mirrors in East Asia, Heritage of Japan (2010)
3. Distribution System of Bronze Mirrors, Society for East Asian Archaeology (2007)

Back of one-plated
Japanese magic mirror

Inscription:
Light from Buddha
Illuminates the world,
All creatures chanting sutra
Are saved, no one abandoned

19th Century CE

4

Magic Mirrors Travel West

Magic bronze mirrors from China and Japan were introduced to the West in the
19th century CE and triggered a scientific “reflection” on their construction. Clickhere (and below resources) for an overview of the magic mirror’s debut with
Western audiences and academic circles. One of the earliest accounts appearedin 1832 in the London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Journal of Science. Joseph
Needham, the famed author of Science and Civilization in China (1962), devoted
a section (pp. 94~97) of his monumental work to magic mirrors. To view themagic mirror in action, watch this video (1.21 minutes).

See Slide 16
for details

Like normal non-magic bronze mirrors, magic mirrors have an ornamental
pattern cast on the back and a polished reflective front surface. When you lookin a non-magic or magic mirror, you see your face. But when you shine a bright
light on a one-plated magic mirror, the pattern on the ornamental back is cast on
the wall. This is amazing. But it is only “semi” magic compared to a two-plated
magic mirror.
In Japan, sometime in the 19th century, artisans discovered a way to hide images
inside the mirror -- images having nothing whatsoever to do with the pattern on
the mirror’s back. When light is cast on this “two-plated” magic mirror, anentirely unexpected religious image appears on the wall.

RESOURCES

1. Account of a Curious Chinese Mirror; London Journal of Science, Series 3, Vol. 1, Issue 6, 1832
2. Accounts of Curious Mirrors, Janet Leigh Foster, 2022 (great images & overview of intro to West)
3. Magic Mirror as Studied in Japan in Meiji Period, Watanabe Masao, 1964
4. The Japanese Magic Mirror, Watanabe Masao, 1965
5. Recent Advances in Understanding the Mystery of Ancient Chinese Magic Mirrors, Jan. 1987
Plate 1
6. A Magic Mirror Trick (pp. 142~149), Lost Knowledge, Benjamin B. Olshin, 2019
7. Chinese "magic" mirrors, Derek B. Swinson, 1992
8. Oriental magic mirrors and the Laplacian image, European Journal of Physics, Nov. 2005
9. The Magic Mirror of Japan, Ayrton & Perry, 1878 (higher-rez version found here)
10. Ye Magick Mirrour of Old Japan, Silvanus P. Thompson, 1893
11. Magic Mirrors, Science, Vol. 2, No. 62, M. Bertin, 1881
Back of two-plated
12. Brief History of Magic Mirrors Introduction to West (faena.com)
13. Magic mirrors of the Orient, G. Saines and M. G. Tomilin, 1999
Japanese magic mirror
14. Secrets of the Chinese magic mirror replica, S. Mak and D. Yip, 2001

Plate 25

One-Plate Magic Mirrors ・ China & Japan ・ Casts Image of Mirror’s Back Side
Chinese and Japanese magic mirrors were first studied scientifically by Westernteachers visiting Japan in the early Meiji period (late 19th century CE). See story
by Watanabe Masao (1964). In 1897, Silvanus P. Thompson from England gave aseries of lectures at the Royal Institution of Great Britain (Light Visible andInvisible, pp. 50~54), in which he states: “For many years it was supposed thatthese mirrors were produced by some trick. The extraordinary fact is that in Japanthe Japanese themselves were unaware of the magic property of the mirrors. It
results, in fact, from an accident of manufacture.” During the lectures, Professor
Thompson revealed a Japanese one-plated magic mirror.

One Plate Magic Mirrors

Light projected on front of mirror casts image on back of mirror.
Specially made for
The Magic Lantern Society, England

Back

Japanese
Magic Mirror
IMAGE SOURCEInternet Archive
See Slide 13 for related mirrors
Back

Reflection
Cast on Wall

Front

Reflection Cast on Wall

IMAGE SOURCE (above & below): Grand-Illusions.com

VIDEO: Chinese one-plate magic mirrors in action

Back

Buy online here

Front

Reflection Cast on Wall
6

Ancient One-Plate Magic Mirror・China・Shanghai Museum ・ Casts Image of Mirror’s Back SideCHINA, Ancient Magic Mirror
Western Han Period ・202 BCE ~ 9 CE

Title: Lens of Sun’s Light, National Treasure
Period: Western Han (206 BCE ~ 9 CE)
Medium: Bronze (copper, tin, other alloys)
Dimensions: Diameter 7.4 cm
Collection: Shanghai Museum (China) 上海博物馆Description: The ancients regarded this “lens of light”
as a magical mythical object. But the method formaking it was lost. According to the Chinese, the artof making magic mirrors can be traced back to theWestern Han dynasty. The secrets disappeared
sometime around the Tang dynasty (618–907 CE). A
professional catalogue of ancient mirrors in China
started in the Sui 隋 dynasty (581–618 CE) with thefictional narrative The Story of an Ancient Mirror(Gujing ji 古鏡記) by Wang Du 王度. Unfortunately, mostsubsequent catalogues were lost – and with them any
record of how to make magic mirrors. Wang Du’s text isamong only a few extant fictional texts from thosebygone days. The Story of an Ancient Mirror is
fantastical. For a brief overview, see Slide 8. Abovedescription adapted from writings of Jue Chen.

RESOURCES

ShanghaiMuseumAdded
by author之光・Ancient magic
mirrors do not cast
crisp images. They
were made differently
than later mirrors.
Learn more here.

日
天
Back
Magic Mirror

見1. Secrets of Magic Mirrors (2017) (including this mirror)
2. Smithsonian – Trove of Old Mirrors Found in Chinese Cemetery (2021)
3. Revealing Reflection: The Chinese Emperor’s Mirror (2012)
4. Recent Advances in Understanding the Mystery of Magic Mirrors (1987)
5. Bronze Mirrors - Social Sciences in China Press (2017)
6. Ancient Chinese Bronze Mirrors @ The Huntington, CA (2011)
7. Chinese Bronze Mirrors - Australian Museum (2014)
8. Bronze Mirrors in Shanghai Museum (2019)・Chinese
9. Magic Technology of the Han Dynasty (2018)・Chinese
10. More about the mirror in this slide (2022)・Chinese
11. Chinese Magic Mirror (2022)・Wikipedia
12. Dating of Chinese Bronze Mirrors (1971/1972)

Over 10,000 bronze
mirrors in China’s
Shanghai Museum.
Only a small number
identified as magic.

下明

大Inscription on Back
見日之光，天下大明IMAGE SOURCE: Chinese Wiki

Seeing the sun’s light, the world is illuminated7

Story of an Ancient Mirror (Gujing Ji 古鏡記) -- Early Tang China (618~907 CE)
SOURCE:https://muse.jhu.edu/article/785875/summary

MIRRORRESOURCES•

Jue Chen 陳玨, The
Mystery of an"Ancient Mirror:" AnInterpretation ofGujing ji in theContext of Medieval
Chinese Cultural
History, East AsianHistory, Number 27,
June 2004.

•

Jue Chen 陳玨,
History and Fiction in
the Gujing Ji (Recordof an Ancient Mirror),
Monumenta Serica,
52, 2004, pp 161~197

•

•

•

Ding Xiang Warner,
Rethinking the
Authorship and
Dating of “Gujing ji,”T'ang Studies 20-21(2002-03).
Lost Knowledge: The
Concept Of VanishedTechnologies And
Other Human
Histories, A Magic
Mirror Trick?, pp.
142~149.
Pauline Bentley
Koffler, "The Story of
the Magic Mirror(Gujingji) by Wang Du,
Etudes d‘Histoire
Culturelle de la Chine,
Paris: College deFrance, 1995, pp.
165~214.

OTHER OLD ASIAN MYTHS ABOUT MIRROR POWER
Fazang 法藏 (643–712), third patriarch of the Huayan 華嚴 school of Chinese Buddhism,
reportedly built a “Hall of Mirrors” for Empress Wu 武 (r. 684–705 CE) to illustrate thecomplicated tenets of Huayan philosophy – the universal interconnectedness, mutualinterdependence, and mutual interpenetration of all things. According to various
Chinese texts, eight mirrors were placed in the four cardinal directions and the four semi
directions (NE, NW, SE, SW), and one on the top and one on the bottom. Ten mirrors
facing one another. A Buddha statue was then installed in the middle of the ten mirrors,
along with a lamp or a candle to illuminate each mirror. The ten mirrors, positioned andilluminated, produced an infinite number of Buddha reflections. The reflections
replicated themselves infinitely, as in Indra’s Net 因陀羅網, which is woven withnumerous jewels. Read more here or here.
Digital Dictionary of Buddhism (login = guest): Indra’s Net is a vast net that hangs in Indraʼs palace inwhich the strands are joined together by jewels. When light reflects onto one of the jewels, the samelight is reflected and re-reflected endlessly throughout the expanse of the net. This is a metaphor usedin Huayan 華嚴 Buddhism to express the concept of mutual interpenetration.

Woodblock print by Shunsai
Toshimasa 春斎年昌, 1887

Amaterasu

DivineMirrorOne
conceivable
designJAPANESE MIRROR MYTHOLOGY. Amaterasu Ōmikami 天照大神 and the Divine Mirror. The sacredmirror, known as the Yata no Kagami 八咫鏡 or Shinkyō 神鏡, is a symbol of the sun goddess
Amaterasu. Japan’s imperial family claims direct descent from her lineage. The mirror is said to reflect
her image and represents wisdom and honesty. It is commonly believed that the original mirror is still
located at the Grand Shrine of Ise (Mie prefecture). STORY. Amaterasu, annoyed by her brother, hides
herself inside a cave and closes the cave door with a large boulder. Her absence deprives the world of
light. The other deities lure her out of the cave with dance and laughter, and the first thing she sees is
her own brilliant reflection in a mirror hung in a nearby tree. When she draws closer for a better look,
the gods grab her and pull her out of the cave, thus restoring light to the world. Many Shintō shrines
contain a sacred mirror as a symbolic treasure revering Amaterasu.

8

3rd~4th Century One-Plate Magic Mirror・Japan・Kyoto Nat’l Museum ・ Casts Image of Mirror’s Back Side
JAPAN ・3rd~4th Century, Aichi Prefecture
Title: Triangular-Rim Creature / Divinity Mirror 三角縁神獣鏡
Period: 3rd~4th Century CE, Kofun Period
Medium: Bronze (copper, tin, other alloys)
Dimensions: Diameter 21 cm
Collection: Kyoto National Museum 京都国立博物館
Discovered At: Higashinomiya Burial Mound, Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture
東之宮古墳、愛知県、犬山市
Description: This mirror is associated with Japanese Shaman-Queen
Himiko 卑弥呼 (c. 170~248 CE). Why? Other mirrors found in the same tombwere inscribed with the year 239 CE. According to the Chinese Book of Wei
魏書 (dated 297 CE), Himiko sent emissaries and gifts to China in 239 CE
and in return, Chinese Emperor Cao Rui 曹叡 (r. 205~239 CE) sent 100
bronze mirrors to Himiko. There are many who dispute this interpretation.

Back of
Magic Mirror

Creature

Magic Mirrors, Prof. Murakami
Ryu 村上隆, Kyoto Universityof Arts and Crafts, 化学と教育,
Vol. 64, #5, 2016. (Japanese)
Press Conference, Prof.
Murakami Ryu presenting his
3D-printed reconstructed
mirror, Jan. 29, 2014.
(Japanese)

Original

Ancient magic
mirrors do not cast
crisp images. They
were made differently
than later mirrors.

Restoration of the triangularrimmed beast/divinity mirrors,
Fukushima Prefecture Cultural
Properties Center Shirakawa
Hall-Mahoron, 2002.
(Japanese)

Mirrors may have worked
magic in ancient Japaneserituals, Asahi.com, Feb. 7,
2014. (English)
Secrets of Chinese magic
mirror replica, Se-yuen Mak &Din-yan Yip, Physics Education,
Vol. 36, #2, 2001. (English)
Mirrors to Japanese History,
Walter Edwards,
Archaeological Institute ofAmerica , Vol. 51, #3,
May/June 1998. (English)

Divinity

Professor Murakami
believes mirrors wereused in ancient Japan forsun-worshipping rituals.

Back

Comprehesive Database ofArchaeological Site Reports inJapan. (Japanese)

Creature

3D-Printed
Recreation

RESOURCES

Hyogo Museum of AncientBronze Mirrors. (Japanese)
Mirror of Japan’s Shaman
Queen (English)

More than 500 ancient mirrors have been unearthedin areas from the northeastern Tohoku region to thesouthern island of Kyushu, with many in the Kinki
region. Many were discovered in tumulus fromJapan's Kofun period (circa 300 to 538 CE). Like
China, there are thousands of bronze mirrors inJapanese museums. Very few are identified as
magic mirrors, and those few are only one-platemagic. In modern Japan, there is at least one
artisan in the country who still practices the old art.
See Slide 22. For more, click here.
3D-Printed
Recreation

三角縁神獣鏡
Sankakubuchi Shinjūkyō Mirror
Triangular Creature / Divinity Mirror

918th Century One-Plate Magic Mirror ・ Japan ・ Tokyo National Museum ・ Casts Image of Mirror’s Back Side
• Title: Magic Mirror, Inscription to Amida Buddha• Period: Edo Era (1615~1868), 18th Century• Medium: Bronze• Dimensions: Diameter 23.8 cm• Collection: Tokyo National Museum 東京国立博物館• Prayer・Religious Chant (Nenbutsu 念佛):
Back of mirror displays six-character phrase “Namo Amida Butsu”
南无阿弥陀佛 (Hail Amida Buddha). This particular spelling /pronunciation is unique to the Nishi Honganji 西本願寺派 sect of
New Pure Land Buddhism 浄土真宗.
• Image Sources: Agency for Cultural Affairs // Tokyo National Museum• More Images: TNM #2 // TNM #3

南
无
阿
to
弥
A
m
陀
i
d
a 佛
H
o
m
a
g
e

Back
Plate 1ONGOINGPROJECT
If you know ofother magic
mirrors to add tothis online report,
please contact
Schumacher.

Front
Plate 1Substitute Image

Reflection
Cast on Wall

南
无
阿
to
弥
A
m
陀
i
d
a 佛
H
o
m
a
g
e

10

19th Century One-Plate Magic Mirror・Japan・Kanazawa University Museum ・ Casts Image of Mirror’s Back
Title: Magic mirror with images of a pine, bamboo, cranes andturtle -- a traditional motif representing longevity. The two large
characters 高砂 are read Takasago and refer to a very auspicious
Japanese Nō 能 play involving a loving and long-married couple.
Period: Edo era (1615–1868); 19th century
Medium: Bronze; mirror acquired by university in 1925
Dimensions Diameter 18 cm; handle 9.5 cm
Collection: Kanazawa Univ. Museum 金沢大学資料館

Back of
Magic Mirror

Front
Shining light onfront of mirror casts
the two characters onback of mirror

Back Inscription
Tenka Ichi Fujiwara Yoshinobu 天下一藤原義信.
Says the New York Met (click Catalogue Entry):“Tenka Ichi” was a brazen title devised by thegeneral Oda Nobunaga (1534 –1582) to encourage
indigenous crafts. Accordingly, the finest
practitioners in each of the various crafts -lacquerware, ceramics, mask carving, metalwork -were allowed to bestow the honorific uponthemselves. Its indiscriminate use, however, soon
made it meaningless, and in 1682 it was banned.”
Images・Resources
•
•
•
•
•
•

Virtual Museum Project, Kanazawa University Musuem
Magic Mirrors, The UNESCO 1988
Hattori Collection・Seven Magic Mirrors
下伊那地方の唐式鏡・Iida City Musem・March 2007
Buddhism in Nō, Flowing Traces, Royall Tyler, 1992
Buy Online, also here and here and here. Not magic.

A photo of this mirror first appeared in a 1933 article by H.
Dember in Ostasiatische Zeitschrift, Vol. 9, p. 203. Joseph
Needham then used the same photo in his acclaimed Science
and Civilization in China (1962).

Slides 11, 17-2, 20, 21, and 22 depict very similar back design.

Reflection
Cast on Wall

11

① 19th Century One-Plate Magic Mirror・Japan・ Stanford Univ. Museum ・ Casts Image of Mirror’s Back
• Title: Magic Mirror, Amida Buddha seated on pedestal• Period: Edo Era (1615~1868), 19th Century• Medium: Bronze• Dimensions: Not provided by image source

Back of
Mirror• Collection: Stanford Univ. Museum, Gift of Jane L. Stanford

Reflective
Front• Image Source: Note on Magic Mirrors, Herbert Maryon
Archives of the Chinese Art Society of America, Vol. 17 (1963)

Reflection
Cast on Wall②

19th Century One-Plate Magic Mirror・Japan・ Online Auction Site・ Casts Image of Mirror’s Back

• Title: Magic Mirror, Big Buddha of Kamakura
Amida Buddha seated on pedestal• Period: Edo Era (1615~1868), late 19th Century• Medium: Bronze• Dimensions: Diameter 15.2 cm, weight 421 grams• Auction Site: Trocedero, EastWest Gallery, Honolulu, Hawaii• Image Source: Trocedero

Back of
MirrorReflection
Cast on Wall
Reflective
Front

12

19th Century One-Plate Japanese Magic Mirrors ・ Silvanus P. Thompson

FROM:
Ye Magick Mirrour of Old Japan

By Silvanus P. Thompson, Published 1893
View online at Gutenberg.org or at The Internet Archive

Mirror 1

Mirror 4

Mirror 2

Mirror 5

Mirror 3

Mirror 6

13

Edo Era Two-Plate Magic Mirror・Japan ・ Kamakura Museum of History & Culture
•
•
•
•
•
•

•
•
•
•
•

Title: Magic Mirror with Hidden Image of Amida Buddha
Period: Edo Era (1615~1868); 19th century ??
Medium: Bronze, № 102~103 in Collection
Dimensions: Back Plate 21.5 cm, Hidden Plate 20.8 cm
Collection: Kamakura Museum of History & Culture 鎌倉歴史文化交流館
Prayer・Religious Chant (Nenbutsu 念佛):
Back of mirror displays six-character phrase “Namu Amida Butsu” 南無阿彌陀仏(Hail Amida Buddha); this particular spelling / pronunciation is widespread.
Hidden Image: Amida emanating 28 rays of light
Image Source: Kamakura Museum of History & Culture (KMHC)
More Mirror Images: 鎌倉の中世和鏡に関する一考察鎌倉の中世和鏡に関する一考
Aoki Yutaka, former KMHC curator, says dating magic mirrors
Front
is difficult because impression-replicas were common.
Need to research
Plate 2

Aoki Yutaka, former KMHC
curator, devotes a chapter tomagic mirrors in his bookResearch on Medieval and
Early-Modern Japanese
Mirrors.
Aoki-san also
possesses a twoplated Christianthemed magic
mirror. See Slide 22.

HiddenImage

Amida
BuddhaPlate 2

南
無
阿
to
彌
A
m
陀
i
d
a 佛
H
o
m
a
g
e

two eyelets
for suspension

Back
Plate 1

Back
Plate 2
HiddenImage

Reflection Cast on Wall

14

Edo Era Two-Plate Magic Mirrors・Japan・ Kokugakuin University Museum ・國學院大學博物館蔵・服部和彦氏コレクション
Casts “magic” image not found on mirror’s back (plate one).
Casts image of hidden “second plate” located inside mirror.

①

Back
Plate

Title: Magic Mirror with Hidden Amida Buddha
Period: Edo era (1615–1868), 19th century CE
Medium: Bronze // Dimensions: ????
Hidden Image: When light shines on the mirror’s front
surface, an image of Amida is cast on the wall(emanating 28 rays of light).
Sutra circa 5th C. CE

•
•
•
•

Inner
HiddenPlate

Inscription on mirror’s back from the 觀無量壽經Contemplation Sutra; a phrase commonly chanted toemphasize that Amida will not abandon anyone whochants Amida’s name.
光明徧照 （こうみょうへんじょう)
十方世界 （じっぽうせかい)
念仏衆生 （ねんぶつしゅじょう）攝取不捨 （せっしゅふしゃ）

Reflective
Surface

MIRROR
THICKNESS
Two plates plus
reflective surface
combined

Back Side
two eyelets
for suspension

Image Source: Mirrors and Faith - The Formation and Developmentof Japanese Mirrors 鏡と信仰 - 和鏡の成立と展開, page 35.
Presented to the Inba Cultural Property Center (July 26, 2014) byProfessor Uchikawa Takashi 内川隆志.

②

X-Ray

南
无
阿
to
弥
A
m
i 陀
d
a 佛
H
o
m
a
g
e

two eyelets
for suspension

Back Side

Reflection
Cast onWall

Light from Buddha
Illuminates the world,
All creatures chanting sutra
Are saved, no one is abandoned

X-Ray

Also see: Kachō Fūgetsu 花鳥風月, Beauty of Handheld Mirrors- Focused on the Hattori Collection, Kokugakuin Univ. Museum
國學院大學博物館. Hattori Collection 服部和彦コレクション
holds seven magic mirrors. Are they all two-plated mirrors?

•
•
•
•

Title: Magic Mirror with Hidden Amida Buddha
Period: Edo era (1615–1868)
Medium: Bronze // Dimensions: ????
Hidden Image: When light shines on the mirror’sreflective front, an image of Amida is cast on thewall (emanating 28 rays of light).

Professor Uchikawa Takashi 内川隆志 ofKokugakuin University says: “Our university
museum has around 1,000 mirrors. Many not
yet researched. Seven are magic. The fullscale study of magic mirrors is just starting.”

Front
Reflective Surface
Badly Damaged

Casts image of
2nd metal plate
inside mirror

Amida
BuddhaImage Source: The Wonder of Magic Mirrors
魔鏡の不思議にせまる, Special Lecture
Series, Prof. Uchikawa Takashi 内川隆志,
Kokugakuin University 國學院大學.
15

Edo Era Two-Plate Magic Mirror・Japan・ Nanzan University Museum of Anthropology
two eyelets
for suspension

JAPAN ・ Magic Mirror with Hidden Image of Amida
Dating Unclear: Early 18th century or Mid 19th century
Title: Magic Mirror with Hidden Image of Amida Buddha
Period: Edo era (1615–1868). Hard to date. The inscription suggests a late 17th to early
18th century mirror, but one cannot rule out replica casting (踏み返し鋳造法 fumi-gaeshi
chūzō), in which much older mirrors are replicated using a clay mold. Hence, this magic
mirror may be a mid 19th century impression replica.
Medium: Bronze (copper, tin, lead, other alloys)
Dimensions: Diameter 21.5 cm
Collection: Nanzan University Museum of Anthropology (Japan) 学南山大学人類博物館
Design on Back: Miho no Matsubara 三保の松原 “Pine-covered area at Miho (Mt. Fuji).”

Back

Hidden Image: Amida Buddha. When light shines on the mirror’s reflective front surface,
an image of Amida is cast on the wall (emanating twenty-eight rays of light). However, thetin plating on the mirror’s front surface is badly deteriorated, so the “hidden” image ofAmida is largely obscured. Thanks to X-rays, the hidden inner casting is clearly revealedas Amida. Images of Mt. Fuji were extremely popular in the Edo period, largely because of
the mountain’s longstanding sacred importance to Shintō, Shugendō and Buddhist schoolsof faith. Amida’s head aligns with the summit of Mt. Fuji, suggesting that Mt. Fuji wasconsidered a gateway to Amida’s Buddhist Pure Land.
Inscription: 天下一田中伊賀守. See text box below main mirror image.
Plate One Back

Inscribed Tenka ichi Tanaka Iga no kami 天下一田中伊賀守 (Number One Under the Sky, Lord
Tanaka of Iga Province). Says the New York Met (click Catalogue Entry): “Tenka Ichi” was a brazen
title devised by the general Oda Nobunaga (1534–1582) to encourage indigenous crafts. Accordingly,
the finest practitioners in each of the various crafts -- lacquerware, ceramics, Nō masks, metalwork -were allowed to bestow the honorific upon themselves. Its indiscriminate use, however, soon made itmeaningless, and in 1682 it was banned.

Plate Two X-Ray Image

Reflective Front
Plate Two
IMAGE SOURCES AND RESEARCH NOTES
Bulletin of Nanzan Univ. Museum of Anthropology, March 2013, No. 31, pp. 1~11
Color Photo from FDG Twitter Account16

19th Century Two-Plate Magic Japanese Mirror・England・ British Museum①

two eyelets
for suspension

to
A
m
i
d
a

南旡阿弥陀佛

H
o
m
a
g
e

Reflection
Cast on
Wall

Back

Hidden
Inner
Plate

Title: Magic Mirror with Hidden Image of Amida Buddha
Period: Edo era (1615–1868), 19th Century
Medium: Bronze
Dimensions: 8.25 inches (21 cm)
Back: 南旡阿弥陀佛, Namu Amida Butsu, Homage to Amida BuddhaCollection: British Museum
Hidden Image: Amida emanating 28 rays of light. Why 28?
Unknown, but perhaps related to the astrological 28 constellations(the 28 moon lodges), seven each for north, south, east, and west.
The 28 (4 X 7) represent the entire cosmos in early Buddhism.
Description: Other similar examples are held in the New York
Metropolitan Museum of Art (see next slide) and the Cincinnati Art
Museum (see next slide). For more, see Masao Watanabe, The
Japanese Magic Mirror: An Object of Art and of Scientific Study,
Archives of the Chinese Art Society of America, Vol. 19 (1965).

19th Century Two-Plate Magic Japanese Mirror・England・ Victoria & Albert Museum②

Reflectionof camera
takingphoto

Title: Magic Mirror with Hidden Image of Amida Buddha
Period: Edo era (1615–1868), 19th Century
Medium: Bronze
Dimensions: 8½ inches (21.6 cm)
Back: Pine Tree, Bamboo, Two Cranes, Turtle.
Popular Japanese motif representing longevity.

Back

Front

Collection: Victoria & Albert Museum
Hidden Image: Sun-rayed figure (number of rays not yet
announced) of Amida standing on a lotus throne.

two eyelets
for suspension

Slides 11, 17-2, 20, 21, and 22 depict very similar back design.

17

①

Edo Era Two-Plate Magic Japanese Mirror・USA・ Cincinnati Art Museum

南
無
阿
to
彌
A
m
陀
i
d
a佛

Title: Magic Mirror with Hidden Image of Amida Buddha
Period: Edo era (1615–1868)
Medium: Bronze
Dimensions: 8½ inches (21.6 cm)
Back: 南無阿彌陀仏 (Namu Amida Butsu), Homage to Amida
Collection: Cincinnati Art Museum // CAM Instagram
Hidden Image: Amida emanating 28 rays of light.

H
o
m
a
g
e

Religious Chant (Nenbutsu 念佛): Mirror’s back displays six-characterphrase “Namu Amida Butsu” 南無阿彌陀仏 (Hail Amida Buddha); thisparticular spelling / pronunciation is widespread. It is the traditional
Chinese spelling. Hou-mei Sung, CAM's curator of East Asian art, thinks
it may have come from China (not Japan) because of its traditional
spelling. But John Carpenter, curator New York Met, assumes it isJapanese and “perhaps cast in the same workshop” as the Kamakura
magic mirror appearing on Slide 14 in this guide.

Back

Reflection Cast on Wall

Front

Resources:• Magic Mirror, A Rediscovered Treasure at CAM② 19th Century Two-Plate Magic Japanese Mirror・USA・ New York Metropolitan Museum

t
o
A
m
i
d
a

南元阿弥陀佛

H
o
m
a
g
e

Back

H
o
m
a
g
e
to
A
m
i
d
a

X Ray Image

Hidden Inner Plate

南 无阿弥陀佛Title: Magic Mirror with Hidden Image of Amida Buddha
Period: Edo era (1615–1868), 19th Century
Medium: Bronze /// Dimensions: 9 3/8 in. (23.8 cm)
Back: 南无阿弥陀佛, Namu Amida Butsu, Homage to Amida
Collection: New York Met
Hidden Image: Amida emanating 48 rays of light, one foreach of 48 vows made by Amida when still a Bodhisattva(prior to achieving Buddhahood).

Front

Back
Plate

Front

HiddenInner
Plate

Reflection

Reflection
Cast onWall

18

Amida Buddha Magic Mirrors from Japan – Sidenotes on Spelling & Pronunciation

Kamakura
Slide 14

Cincinnati
Slide 18-1

南無阿彌陀佛England
Slide 17-1

南旡阿弥陀佛Tokyo
Slide 10

New York
Slide 18-2

南无阿弥陀佛Writes Professor Raji C. Steineck, Japanologie, Asien-Orient-Institut, Universität Zürich: “As an addition to Lisa Kochinski‘s message [below], these varioustransliterations of namu also come with various pronunciations – besides namu I have come across namo, nōmaku and nōbō, for example, although not in thecontext of the six-character name 六字名号. Sometimes different schools have different pronunciations of the same formula, which appears to me as an
expedient way to emphasize lineage in a culture of 'secret' transmissions.”
Writes Professor Mark Blum (Berkeley Institute of East Asian Studies): “These variant forms of 無 or 旡 or 无 or 元 are about design, not meaning, since thecharacters represent the sound of the Sanskrit word namo from namas, which in this case expresses a multitude of meanings, at times a personal commitment
or an expression of faith, at times a call for help, at times a sort of ‘hail to the chief.’ Since there is no meaning to the 南 or the 無, artists felt they could redesign
these things in different ways and there are many unusual forms the characters take. The namo pronunciation today is largely confined to the Nishi Honganji
西本願寺派 school of Jōdoshinshū 浄土真宗 (New Pure Land Buddhism), as they insist on following a holograph of Shinran in which the pronunciation namo isshown as a kind of rubi. It is quite possible that this pronunciation was transmitted from China as it fits the expected Sanskrit form after saṃdhi rules apply where
namo results from namas + a combination, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it pronounced that way in Shingon phrases, but identifying pronunciations at
different periods can be tricky because (as Professor Raji pointed out above) a lineage would often distinguish itself that way. Since this phrase ritually functions
like a mantra, sound matters to some traditions but not all. The Jōdoshū and Higashi Honganji Shinshū people dropped namo for namu long ago, similar to theway in which modern Chinese Mandarin doesn't worry about the pronunciation in the Six Dynasties. It appears that once things get standardized in the Edo
period, nearly everyone pronounces this as namu -- I assume because of the weight of the mu pronunciation of 無・无 nearly everywhere else.”
Thanks to Lisa Kochinski (PhD Candidate, University of Southern California) for the following link: NAMU: Digital Dictionary of Buddhism: Login = guest. Sanskrit
namas; Pāli namo. To take refuge in; submit oneself to, from to bend, bow to, make obeisance, pay homage to; an expression of submission to command,
complete commitment, reverence, devotion, trust for salvation, etc. It is used constantly in liturgy, incantations, etc. especially as in namaḥ Amitâbha, which isthe formula of faith of the Pure Land school, representing the believing heart of all beings and Amitâbhaʼs power and will to save; repeated in the hour of death it
opens the entrance to the Pure Land. Also written 南牟; 南謨; 南忙; 那謨, 那模, 那麻, 納莫, 納慕; 娜母; 曩莫, 曩謨, 捺麻, 捺謨, etc.

Explanation of Different Amida Readings (Japanese)

南元阿弥陀佛DIFFERENT SPELLINGS
Namu Amida Buddha

なむあみだぶつ南無阿弥陀佛南無阿彌陀佛南旡阿弥陀佛南无阿弥陀佛南元阿弥陀佛Traditional・Simple
彌→弥
無→旡
無→无
無→元
Comments posted in
Pre-Modern JapaneseStudies (PMJS) forum

19

Edo Era Two-Plate Japanese Magic Christian Mirror・Seinan Gakuin University Museum
Four Christian magic mirrors from the Edo period (1603-1867) are extant, each presented inthis guide. The motif on the back of all four is the same – depicting turtle, crane, pine, andbamboo. The hidden image in all four depicts Christ on the Cross. How appropriate! Jesus on
the Cross (representing everlasting life) juxtaposed to the popular Japanese motif of turtle,
crane, pine, bamboo (representing eternal youth and longevity).
Christianity in Japan was banned for over two centuries in the Tokugawa Era 徳川時代
(1615~1867). It makes perfect sense for Hidden Christians to use magic mirrors for secretworship, but there is little evidence that the practice was widespread. To put it bluntly, magic
Christian mirrors may be an “isolated” phenomenon – playing no significant role among theoutlawed Christians. The Christians found other ways to hide their faith. They created statuesof the Virgin Mary (Mother of Jesus) disguised as the Buddhist deity Kannon (Goddess ofMercy). These images, called Maria Kannon マリア観音, were made or altered to look like
Kannon, but the statues were not worshipped as Kannon. A Christian cross was often hidden
within the statue. Did magic mirrors come before or after Maria Kannon statues? Unknown.

Title: Magic Mirror with Hidden Image of Jesus on Cross
Period: Edo era (1615–1868)
Medium: Bronze
Dimensions: 8.25 inches (21 cm)
Back: Turtle, Crane, Pine, and Bamboo
Collection: Seinan Gakuin University Museum 西南学院大学博物館
Fukuoka // Museum writeup is very curious, for it mistakenly identifies
this mirror as Chinese.
Hidden Image: Jesus Christ on Cross
Slides 11, 17-2, 20, 21, and 22 depict very similar back design.

Reflection
Cast on Wall

Back

Front
Slides 11, 17-2,
20, 21, and 22
depict similarback design.

two eyelets
for suspension

20

Edo Era Two-Plate Magic Mirror・Japan ・ Kamakura Museum of History & Culture
Title: Magic Mirror with Hidden Image of Christ on Cross
Period: Edo era (1615–1868), 19th century
Medium: Bronze
Back: Turtle, Crane, Pine, and Bamboo
Dimensions: Plate One with Outer Design, diameter 21 cm, thickness 0.6 cm
Dimensions: Plate Two with Jesus on Cross, diameter 21 cm, thickness 0.6 cm
Hidden Image: Jesus Christ on Cross
Collection: Private Collection of Aoki Yutaka 青木豊
Kamakura Museum of History & Culture 鎌倉歴史文化交流館

Back
Plate One?

Is this the same mirror
appearing on Slide 20?
Documentation is unclear.

Aoki Yutaka, former curatorof the Kamakura Museum ofHistory & Culture, devotes achapter to magic mirrors in
his book Research on
Medieval and Early-Modern
Japanese Mirrors.

Hidden Image
Plate Two
Resources
1. Vita Aoki Yutaka
2. More about Aoki Yutaka
Slides 11, 17-2, 20, 21, & 22 depict similar back design.

21

Edo Era Two-Plate Japanese Magic Christian Mirror・Miki Sawada Memorial Museum・Collection of Pastor Sugino①①

Reflection
Cast on WallBack

two eyelets
for suspension②

Jesus on Cross
十字架 Jūjika

Reflection
Cast on Wall

Says the museum: “Mid-19th century CE dating assumed. Mirror has threelayers and its reflective surface has been thinned to 1 mm by using a tool called‘Yasuriyasen.’ When it reflects light, an image of Jesus Christ appears clearly on
the wall.” The three layers, in my mind, mean the back plate, the front platewith hidden image, and the reflective surface applied to the front plate.

Title: Magic Mirror with Hidden Image of Christ on Cross
Period: Edo era (1615–1868)
Medium: Bronze
Modern Dimensions: 8.25 inches (21 cm)
RosaryBack: Turtle, Crane, Pine, and Bamboo
Hidden Image: Jesus Christ on Cross
Collection: Private Owner, Pastor Sugino Sakae 杉野栄牧師

Rakusei Baptist Church 洛西バプテスト教会, Kyoto

Back
Jesus on Cross
十字架 Jūjika

two eyelets
for suspension

Title: Magic Mirror with Hidden Image of Christ on Cross
Period: Edo era (1615–1868), mid 19th century
Medium: Bronze
Dimensions: ????
Back: Turtle, Crane, Pine, and Bamboo
Hidden Image: Jesus Christ on Cross
Collection: Miki Sawada Memorial Museum 澤田美喜記念館& Elizabeth Saunders Home (Kanagawa)

NOTES• See Slide 20 for introductory notes about magic Christian mirrors.
• Pastor Sugino Sakae says all these Christian mirrors are the same size
and were likely made by the same artisan or workshop.
• Magic Mirrors Reflect Master Craftsmanship 魔鏡が映す匠の技術
Journal of Japan Society for Precision Engineering, Vol. 78, No.1, 2012
• Eye-opening Japanese site about making magic mirrors

Slides 11, 17-2, 20, 21, and 22 depict very similar back design.

22Modern Japanese Maker of Magic Mirrors・Yamamoto Alloy Works Co. Ltd.
Based on extant evidence, two-plate magic mirrors were first made in Japan in the Edo era(1603-1867). The mirrors presented in this guide are largely dated to the 19th century. Thesemirrors were supposedly made for outlawed Christians, who used them to hide their faith.
Also, certain Amida Pure Land Buddhist sects were banned during the Edo period, and they too
manufactured magic mirrors to ostensibly hide their faith. It is unclear which denomination(Christian or Buddhist) was the first to discover or introduce such magic mirrors. The practice
was not [it seems] widespread. The very small number of extant magic mirrors in museums
today suggest it was a very “localized” phenomenon, perhaps limited to a handful of Japanese
workshops. No magic Christian mirrors from the Edo era have been found outside Japan.
The skills for making magic mirrors were largely forgotten during the Meiji period (1868–1912)
when religious bans were lifted and religious freedoms proclaimed. Additionally, bronze mirrors
fell quickly out of use after the introduction of European-style glass mirrors in the late 19th
century. Today, the skills for making magic mirrors are preserved at Yamamoto Alloy Works Co.
Ltd., a workshop founded in the late Edo period (1866). Based in Kyoto, the workshop claims tobe the sole maker of magic mirrors in Japan.
The late Yamamoto Shinji (3rd generation) revived the art of magic mirrors in 1974 after aWestern scholar expressed interest in manufacturing them. The techniques are currently
maintained by 72-year-old Yamamoto Fujio (4th generation) and his 46-year-old son Akihisa. The
father-and-son pair created a “Hidden Christian” magic mirror for Pope Francis that the latePrime Minister Abe presented to the Pope in 2014. Other magic mirrors from the Yamamoto
ModernArtist of Magic Mirrors,
workshop have found homes outside
Japan.

1

Magic Mirror
Photo Asahi Shimbun

Photo
SourceReflection

Back Design
Amida Buddha
Magic Mirror
Photo 日本経済新聞

Artist Yamamoto
Akihisa 山本晃久 holds
one of his “magic
mirrors” of Amida
Buddha. An image ofAmida is cast on ascreen by his side,
reflected by anothermagic mirror carrying
the same back design.

Reflection
Jesus on Cross
十字架 Jūjika

2

Yamamoto Akihisa 山本晃久

Resources on Yamamoto Alloy Works & Artist Yamamoto Akihisa

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Yamamoto Alloy Works Co. Ltd. Yamamoto Gokin Seisakusho 山本合金製作所
Video & Slideshow Yamamoto Alloy (J) Asahi Shimbun March 10, 2022
Magic mirror artisan works to keep a delicate craft alive, Asahi Shimbun, March 24, 2022
Stories from Art Research Center, Ritsumeikan University, “Japanese Mirrors: An ancient metalwork
tradition for ritual and for function” (no date given, but very recent)
Making Mirrors with Yamamoto Akihisa (J), Nakagawa Masashichi, July 6, 2020
Yamamoto Fujio and Edo Period Mirrors (J), History of Copper, #187, March 2019, p. 3
Interview with Yamamoto Akihisa, Kyoto Journal, February 4, 2014
Five Generations of Mirror Makers, Kyoto Crafts Magazine, October 2017
Online Shopping for Yamamoto Alloy Works: Phoenix // Amida // Christ on Cross
Slides 11, 17-2, 20, 21, and 22 depict very similar back design.

Back Design
turtle, crane,pine, bamboo

Photo
SourceArtist Yamamoto
Akihisa 山本晃久
23

uestions and Conclusions
Magic Mirrors -- Illuminating & Reflective

Why does something so “recent” mystify us? We know much more about Japanese religious statues,
paintings, and other extant art created a millennium ago. Very curious. Japan’s two-plate magic mirrors
are not widespread nor ancient. Were they made by only a handful of workshops in a handful oflocations? Who commissioned them? We know very little about the provenance of the mirrors nor can
we find two-plate magic mirrors dated prior to the 19th century CE.

KEY
CONCLUSIONS

Says Uchikawa Takashi, Kokugakuin University: “Our museum has about 1,000 old mirrors.
Many unexamined. Full-scale research on magic mirrors has only just begun. It is not yet
clear whether these ancient mirrors were made as magical mirrors. Nor can we deny thepossibility that the magic mirror phenomenon happened purely by chance, as any thinly
polished mirror will reflect the same unevenness as the pattern on the back.”

Pure Land Buddhism andChristianity show a closeaffinity in their religiosity -both share the belief ofsalvation by “Other Power.”

1. Any normal one-plate mirror can become a magic mirror when the reflecting surface is ground very thin. (SOURCE)
Were ancient one-plate mirrors made as magic? Or is it just a coincidence? We can’t say with certainty.
2. One-plate magic mirrors are abundant and stretch back to ancient times. Two-plate magic mirrors are rare, andseemingly originated in Japan in the 19th century. Are there earlier examples of two-plate mirrors from China?
Not that I know of.
3. Ancient one-plate Han-period (206 BCE ~ 9 CE) Chinese magic mirrors were made using a different process than
newer 19th century Japanese one-plate magic mirrors. Reflections from old mirrors are less crisp at short distances,more crisp farther away. Newer mirrors are the opposite. (SOURCE)
4. Museums, institutions and collectors may possess magic mirrors without realizing it.
Most extant mirrors have not been examined for magical properties.
5. Dating mirrors is very difficult. Impression-replicas make dating very hard. (SOURCE) It is likewise difficult todistinguish genuine ancient mirrors from later copies, forgeries, or “made-in-the-style” of bygone days. (SOURCE)
6. The scarcity of two-plate magic mirrors suggests the phenomenon was not widespread but rather isolated. Indeed,
magic mirrors may have played no significant role among the outlawed Christians or persecuted branches of Pure
Land Buddhism. Both the Christians (slide 20) and Buddhists (kakure nenbutsu) found other ways to hide their faith.
The first time I heard about magic mirrors was July 2022 in a post from the Japan Art History Forum (JAHF). It provided a link to thediscovery of a magic mirror in the collection of the Cincinnati Art Museum. Intrigued, I plunged into the research pool and have beenswimming steadily ever since. I’m new to the field. I take full responsibility for any errors or omissions. My apologies in advance.

QUESTION. The magic mirrors of

the outlawed Christians (slides 20,
21, 22, 23) camouflaged the hidden
image of Jesus Christ. In sharp
contrast, most magic mirrors of theoutlawed branches of Jōdo Shinshū
Buddhism (True Pure Land) openly
displayed the mantra of Amida
Buddha on the mirror’s decorative
backside (slides 10, 14, 15, 17, 18,19). No effort was made to“camouflage” the Amida connection.
Why this glaring differencein the magic mirrors ofChristians and Buddhists?

?

Two plausible reasons are: (1) Pure
Land faith was and is one of themost widely practiced forms of
Buddhism in Japan. Unlike
Christianity, Pure Land faith wasconsidered “native” and not“imported.” (2) among the manybranches of Pure Land Buddhism inJapan, only those in the former
Satsuma 薩摩藩 and Hitoyoshi
人吉藩 domains of southern Kyūshū
were banned due to their links with
the Ikkō-ikki uprisings 一向一揆 of
the 15th and 16th centuries. These
rebellions were economic andpolitical threats to Japan’s rulers,
sparking the ire of samurai leaders
such as Oda Nobunaga andTokugawa Ieyasu. Amida faith insaid domains was outlawed in 1555
CE and 1597 CE. The ban on these
Amida sects and Christianity wasabolished in the Meiji period(1868 ~1912). During that time,
glass mirrors from Europe quickly
replaced bronze mirrors. Magic
mirrors were forgotten.
24

SlideAddendum
Optics for Two-Plate Magic Mirrors – Visual References

26

History of Bronze Mirrors Outside East Asia

27

Additional Resources and Web Links

28

Under Investigation – Ongoing Research

29

World’s Largest Magic Mirror – James Webb Space Telescope

30

Ending Slide

31

One Plate Magic Mirror (Casts image of design on mirror’s back)Japanese
Magic Mirror
IMAGE SOURCEInternet Archive
See Slide 13
for related mirrors

Back

Reflection
Cast on Wall

Beginner’s Guide to Magic Mirrors

The views
expressed
herein arethose of theauthor, whotakes full
responsibility
for any errors
and / oromissions.

Two Plate Magic Mirror (Casts hidden image on 2nd plate)

TO OPEN LINKS IN
NEW BROWSER TABS
• right-click the link、then select “openlink in new tab”
• on a PC, hold down
control key thenclick link to open
in new tab• on a Mac, holddown commandkey then click linkto open in new tab

Reflection on Wall

Reflective FrontONGOING PROJECT
If you know of other magic
mirrors to add to this online
report, please contact Mark.

Reflection
Cast on Wall

Back Plate

Hidden Plate

Many facets of the magic-mirror
phenomena remain unexplained.
25Addendum: Optics for Two-Plate Magic Mirrors – Visual References
A two-plated Japanese magic mirror does not reflect the relief design on the
mirror’s back. Nor does it have any obvious irregularities on its reflecting
surface. So how does a magic mirror work? The secret image is actually castinto the design on the back of the mirror‘s reflecting surface. The secretimage areas are made to be thicker than the rest of the mirror. Then, in
polishing, the thickness of the reflecting surface is typically buffed down toabout 1 mm in thickness, but it can be buffed more deeply in the secretimage areas because the metal there is thicker. The resulting thinner, raised
non-image areas deflect light differently than the lower, thicker image
areas. These differences are not easily visible to the naked eye. Although it
may seem that a magic mirror has been polished uniformly, there is actually
minute unevenness invisible to the eye. When light is reflected off thissubtly uneven surface onto a wall, the design will reflect differently fromthe rest of the mirror to reveal its secret image. Text Source: Art ResearchCenter, Ritsumeikan University. Also see Revealing Reflections.

ScreenChart Source: Amusing Planet

Chart Source: KOBELCO Research InstituteChart Source: Ritsumeikan University
Chart Source: Kokugakuin University
Chart
Source:Nihon
KeizaiShimbunChart Source: Sahara Makoto Twitter

Chart Source:
Nihon Kaizei
Shinbun26Addendum: History of Bronze Mirrors Outside East Asia
Bronze mirrors played an important role in the ancient cultures of Egypt, Greece, Rome, and India.
The craft of making bronze mirrors dates back to at least 2900~2000 BCE in Egypt, the Indus Valley,
and China. Made by polishing a sheet of bronze until highly reflective, bronze mirrors were prized as
luxury goods symbolizing elite status, and cherished as precious funerary objects and important
divination tools. Unlike the mirrors of China, it is unknown if any of these mirrors possess the magicalproperties described in this guidebook. Magic mirrors might be exclusively an East Asian phenomenon.
In Western, Middle Eastern, and North African nations, mirrors were not widely revered as
powerful religious icons or talismans able to ward off evil and bring good luck (as they were in China,
Japan, and Korea). In ancient Greece and Rome, mirrors were reserved for the upper class, used forgrooming, associated with personal vanity (excessive self-regard), and imbued with the power toreveal the future or reflect one’s true soul. The use of mirrors in Hindu and Jain traditions (lamentably
not discussed herein) is entirely diﬀerent. Various examples from Greek and Roman literature include
Ovid's "Metamorphoses," an epic poem containing the story of Narcissus, a beautiful youth who falls inlove with his reflection in a pool of water. He neither eats nor sleeps, consumed by his reflection. He iseventually transformed into a daffodil (narcissus) while gazing in the pool.
Narcissus was overcome by a reﬂection that exceeded reality in its persuasiveness. Conversely,
Perseus was able to kill Medusa by using his polished shield as a mirror, reflecting Medusa’s own
power back at her. This can be read as a foil to the Narcissus myth -- the reﬂected image is a weaker,
less eﬀective version of Medusa. Elsewhere, the oracle of Apollo at Delphi demanded of the ancient
Greeks, “Know thyself,” and mirrors have often been used as symbols of wisdom and self-knowledge.
But Apollo also required “Nothing in excess,” so the mirror can also imply vanity or self-indulgence.
Another example involves Rome’s six Vestal Virgins, who came from highborn families and enjoyedprivileges unimaginable for other women. The six were priestesses of Vesta, goddess of the hearth andhome. Their main task was to guard the sacred flame in the Temple of Vesta, keeping the fire alight.
Letting the flame go out led to bad luck for Rome. If the flame did go out, it was not lit again fromanother fire. Instead, a burning mirror was used to draw a pure and unpolluted flame from the sun.
Here the analogy is that mirrors reflect the pure, unadulterated truth. Interestingly, Greek mirrors areoften equated with goddesses and female insight (e.g., the mirror is an attribute of Aphrodite).
During the Middle Ages in Europe, mirrors retained their old links to vanity – an association
reinforced by the prominence of Christian theology. The Church equated mirrors with witchcraft, thedevil, and the sin of pride (i.e. vanity). The Church considered anything that distracted people fromreligious devotion to be an act of devilry. Superstitions were widespread about witches and sorcerers
who used mirrors to divine the future and cast spells. The lingering notion that mirrors reflect the soulgave rise to a belief that breaking a mirror would bring seven years of bad luck (i.e., breaking a mirror
would shatter the soul’s reflection). Seven has a significant meaning in Christianity -- the seven days ofcreation, the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven deadly sins. Committing any of these sins would
lead to eternal damnation.
In modern times, the phrase "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?" is a
popular cultural reference to vanity, envy, and self-obsession. Finally, this short overview is neither
comprehensive nor conclusive. It is provided as a “comparative mirror” to traditions in Asia.

BRIEF OVERVIEW
OF GLASS MIRRORSFor most of recorded history,
mirrors were made of polishedobsidian, pyrite, marble, gold, silver,
copper, and bronze. Glass mirrors
did not gain a foothold until theEuropean Renaissance (14th~17th
centuries). The discovery ofglassmaking is generally dated toaround 4,000 BCE in Mesopotamia.
The oldest extant glass objects areshards and beads from Iraq andEgypt. Glass vessels do not appear
until the late 1600 BCE. Glass forwindows came much later, circa 1st
century CE, during the Roman
Empire. The first glass mirrors weredeveloped about the same time,
but they were never widely used –they were expensive to make (onlythe wealthy could afford them),easy to break, and about asreflective as bronze mirrors. The
art of making glass mirrors was lost
after the fall of the Roman Empire.
Bronze mirrors ruled the roost until
the 15th and 16th century, when theprocess of making glass mirrors
was rediscovered in Germany(convex mirrors) and Italy (flatmirrors). During this period,
mirrors were made using a method
called "fire-gilding." This involved
applying a thin layer of metal,
typically mercury, to the back of a
glass panel, which made the glass
highly reflective. This technique
was replaced in the 19th century
with a new approach called"silvering," which involved
depositing a thin layer of metallic
silver onto the back of glass panes.
“Silvering” resulted in a higher
quality and more durable mirror.
The technique quickly became thede facto standard for mirrors inboth the West and the East. It
spelled the death knell of bronze
mirrors. GLASS MIRRORS – fromastonishing object to ordinary
trinket in just two millennium. See
also Reverse Glass Art 1 & 2 & 3.

Bronze mirror, Europe, Circa 500 BC.
Hercules abducting goddess Mlacuch. British Museum

Roman Gilt-Bronze Mirror.
Circa 2nd C. CE. Three Graces. Sothebys.

27Addendum: Additional Resources• OPEN LINKS IN NEW BROWSER WINDOW:-- right-click the link displayed in this Guide, then click “open link in new tab”-- on a PC, hold down the control key then click the link to open in new browser tab-- on a Mac, hold down the command key then click the link to open in new tab

KOREA. The Myth of Dangun features the Three Seals of Heaven (Cheonbuin) as
tokens of rulership, generally interpreted as the divine mirror (singyeong), which
represents rulership over a people and is found in the tombs of many ancient tribe
chiefs on the Korean peninsula in the form of bronze mirrors; the divine sword(singeom), which is the sword of the monarch, representing military commandership;
and the divine rattle (sillyeong) or the divine drum (singo), sacred props used inrituals to draw the attention of gods when reporting about human affairs. Like theJapanese, the curved jewel (gogok) is also sacred to the Koreans.

• UNRESPONSIVE LINKS: This guide provides links to many other web resources. Over time, someof these links may become unresponsive, yielding the dreaded error message “404 Page Not
Found.” If that happens, please go to the INTERNET ARCHIVE WAYBACK MACHINE, enter the URLof the missing page, and click the “Browse History” button. Voila. More often than not, you’ll
find an archived copy.

• K = 마법의 거울 singyeong (divine mirror)• K = 마술 거울 masul geoul (magic mirror)• ONGOING PROJECT: If you know of other magic mirrors to add to this online collection, pleasecontact Mark.

Buy Magic Mirrors Online, Various Retailers

Mirrors and Relics from Ancient Japanese Tombs•

Mirrors on Ancient Yamato: The Kurozuka Kofun Discovery and the Question of Yamatai, Walter
Edwards, Monumenta Nipponica Vol. 54, No. 1 (Spring, 1999), pp. 75-110 (36 pages)•

Tsubai Ōtsukayama: Mirrors within a Burial Mound, Tanaka Migaku 田中琢. In Ancient Japan, by
Richard Pearson. New York: George Braziller, 1992. Tsubai Ōtsukayama 椿井大塚山 kofun, justoutside the Nara basin in southern Kyoto. All but four of thirty-six mirrors found were triangularrimmed. Also see Tanaka Migaku, Kokyō (Ancient Mirrors), Nihon no bijutsu (Arts of Japan) 178(Tokyo: Shibundō, 1981, 38~40.

•

Tanaka Migaku, 1991, Wajin Sōran 倭人争乱 (Conflicts Among the Japanese People). Tokyo:
Shūeisha, p. 154. Tanaka says that well over 3,000 mirrors have been discovered at protohistoricsites in Japan.

•

Tomb of King Hirabaru 平原遺跡. The Hirabaru Site and Wajinden Research, Notes on the
Archaeology of the Kings of Ito, Barbara Seyock (Munchen), Nachrichten (NOAG), 173–174 (2003).
The tomb holds the record for the most bronze mirrors (40) excavated from a single tomb.

• Creation Myths in Korea and Japan• Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Literature
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Kamakura Big Buddha (Amida) Magic Mirror (late 19th century)
Divine Beasts Magic Mirror
Divine Beasts and 12 Zodiac Animals Magic Mirror
Zodiac Signs Magic Mirror (Science Factory)
Zodiac Signs Magic Mirror, (Grand Illusions)
Chinese Magic Mirror (Replica of Han-period Chinese mirror; see Slide 7 for details)
Four Divine Beasts Magic Mirror
Female Buddhist Deity Magic Mirror (back is replica of Chinese Han-period mirror, see Slide 7)
Female Buddhist Deity Magic Mirror
Female Buddhist Deity Magic Mirror
China Magic Mirror
Mass Produced by Narika LLC
Amida Buddha Magic Mirror
株式会社ナリカ
Make your own magic mirror-- Science is Just There -Various Chinese Magic Mirrors
https://narika.jp/ Est. March 1918
Miscellaneous magic mirror art
Fun resource on how to make magic mirrors

Buy Magic Mirrors Online, Yamamoto Alloy Works Co. Ltd.

Kyoto Crafts
Phoenix Magic Mirror
Amida Buddha Magic Mirror
Christ on Cross Magic Mirror
Christ on Cross Magic PendantPine, Bamboo, Crane, Turtle Magic Mirror
Kyoto Artisans (Reserve time to observe father and son making magic mirrors) – see Slide 19•

The Suda Hachiman Shrine Mirror, David Barnett Lurie, Impressions 30, 2009, pp. 27~30.

•

On Japanese Mirrors, Nakano Masaki 中野政樹, Nihon no bijutsu (Arts of Japan) No. 42 (Tokyo:
Shibundō, 1969, 118 pages.

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Ruins of Identity: Ethnogenesis in the Japanese Islands, Mark James Hudson, 1999, University of
Hawai'i Press, pp.188~191.

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Buddhist Relics and Hidden Repositories of Hōryūji Temple 法隆寺, J. Edward Kidder Jr., Japanese
Journal of Religious Studies, 1992, 19/2-3.

PROGRAMMING NOTES – WORK UNDONE•A Revealing Reflection: The Case of the Chinese Emperor's Mirror, Benjamin B. Olshin, ICON, Vol.
18 (2012), pp. 122-141. Above article gives lots of citations to magic mirror research.

•••

How to make links open in a new window from PowerPoint‘s HTML. Try this !
https://www.try67.com/tool/convert-all-links-in-a-pdf-to-open-in-new-window Try thishttps://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/links-attachments-pdfs.html

28Addendum: Under Investigation, Ongoing Research, Under Construction
Magic mirror, circa 1834, made by Kunitomo near the end of his life (but Prof. Uchikawa says he cannot find this mirror, even though it isrecorded in various documents). Says Professor Uchikawa Takashi: 江戸末期に御用鉄砲鍛冶職の國友一貫斎が魔鏡を製作し、徳川斉昭に献上したという記録があるものの、実物は未発見。年代が確認できている最古のものでも 1824 年（文政 7 年)に過ぎず、新しいものしか解明できていないのです。Yet Curator Aoki Yutaka features the mirror in his 2021 book on Japanese mirrors.

Although many mirrors
have been found inancient tombs, it is notclear whether they weremade as magic mirrors.
At the end of the Edo
period, Kunitomo
Ikkansai 國友一貫斎, agovernment-sponsoredblacksmith making guns,
produced magic mirrors.
Although there is arecord that it waspresented to Kawa
Nariaki, the actual item
has not been found.
The oldest one whose
age can be confirmed is1824 (Bunsei 7 ).
https://www.kokugakuin.ac.jp/assets/uploads/20
16/11/01.pdf

https://www.kokugakuin.ac.jp/assets/uploads/2016/11/01.pdf
http://manpokei1948.jugem.jp/?eid=142
https://manpokei1948-jugem-jp.translate.goog/?eid=142&_x_tr_sch=http&_x_tr_sl=ja&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp••

Kunitomo Ikkansai 國友一貫斎 made one in late Edo (other name was Kunitomo Tōbē Yoshimasa) 1778~1840
Kunitomo Gun Museum 国友鉄砲資料館 國友一貫斎 魔鏡 https://kunitomo-teppo.jp/ik001/
Museum page, which does not provide any info on this object

Two-Plate Magic Mirror

One-Plate Magic Mirror• Janet Foster knows this mirror• Says it is from Niigata• Now at Kamakura Museum (gotta confirm)

Reflection

One-Plate Magic Mirror

Cast onWall

Decorative

Back• Hard to date magic mirrors. Curator Aoki Yutaka
Reflective

Front• Magic mirrors not even a topic at Journal of Chinese
Buddhist Studies or at H-Net• Naming conventions for Mirrors with “Hidden” images:

https://www.dainippon-tosho.co.jp/science_cafe/100/index06.html
https://www.dainippon-tosho.co.jp/science_cafe/092/index.html

1. Janet Foster = “composite” magic mirror
2. Uchikawa Takashi = 二重構造鏡 (double-structure mirror)

29Addendum: World’s Largest Magic Mirror – James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)The James Webb Space Telescope(JWST) is the most complex
machine ever launched into space.
This new mirror of the universe(launched in July 2022) gazes backbillions of years in time and space,and promises to reveal the birth ofgalaxies and the atmospheres of
distant exoplanets. The primary
mirror is 6.5 meters in diameter.
It swirls round and round in a
Lagrange orbit about one million
miles away from Earth. Its aweinspiring images make it the mostmagical mirror of all.

Carina Nebula.
Photo JWST.

JWST & NASA Team
Photo Nasa.

Artistic Illustration

Southern Ring Nebula.
Photo JWST.

JWST’s First Deep Field. Photo JWST.

26 years in the making, with a price tag of $10 billion, the James Webb Space Telescope is finally beaming home dazzling reflectionsof our universe. Its mission? To explore the early universe, star lifecycles, and other worlds. What magic !!!

30

Copyright © 2023
by Mark Schumacher
Dedicated to Teachers & Students& Japan Art History Forum (JAHF)

Beginner’s Guidea realm-embracing-realm ad infinitum
all that exists implies all else that exists
Mark Schumacher is author of the
A-to-Z Photo Dictionary of Japanese Religious Statuary(online since 1995)

THE END
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